Billionaire investor Warren Buffett said the credit quality of the U.S. remains "good" and the nation will honor its obligations even as lawmakers debate whether to lift the nation's borrowing limit.
"We will pay our debts in the end," Buffett, chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., said in a Bloomberg Television interview on "In the Loop" with Betty Liu from an Allen & Co. sponsored conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. "Our credit is good. It's not like if we don't pay we can't pay. We have the right to print our own money. The U.S. is a very special place."
President Barack Obama is summoning top congressional Republicans and Democrats to a rare Sunday meeting at the White House on July 10 to begin what he has termed as "hard bargaining" on a broad debt-reduction deal. The Treasury Department has said the U.S. will reach its $14.29 trillion statutory borrowing limit on Aug. 2 and risk defaulting on obligations if an extension isn't granted by Congress.
Standard & Poor's said last month it would cut the U.S. sovereign rating from AAA to D, the lowest on its scale, in the event of a default after a failure to raise the debt limit. Moody's Investors Service, which Berkshire Hathaway held a stake in as of March 31, said it will put its Aaa rating on review for a downgrade if there isn't progress on the debt ceiling by the middle of July.
Obama, who Buffett supported in the last presidential election, is running record deficits as the U.S. struggles to recover from the 2008 recession.
Employment Report
U.S. employers added 18,000 workers in June, the fewest in nine months, and the unemployment rate unexpectedly climbed, Labor Department data showed today in Washington. The median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey called for a June gain of 105,000. The unemployment rate rose to 9.2 percent, the highest level this year.
This data "means that we are a ways off from getting to be where we should be," Buffett said. The kind of slump we had "doesn't turn around in a week, or a month or even a year. On the other hand, we are coming back," he said.
"We will pay our debts in the end," Buffett, chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., said in a Bloomberg Television interview on "In the Loop" with Betty Liu from an Allen & Co. sponsored conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. "Our credit is good. It's not like if we don't pay we can't pay. We have the right to print our own money. The U.S. is a very special place."
President Barack Obama is summoning top congressional Republicans and Democrats to a rare Sunday meeting at the White House on July 10 to begin what he has termed as "hard bargaining" on a broad debt-reduction deal. The Treasury Department has said the U.S. will reach its $14.29 trillion statutory borrowing limit on Aug. 2 and risk defaulting on obligations if an extension isn't granted by Congress.
Standard & Poor's said last month it would cut the U.S. sovereign rating from AAA to D, the lowest on its scale, in the event of a default after a failure to raise the debt limit. Moody's Investors Service, which Berkshire Hathaway held a stake in as of March 31, said it will put its Aaa rating on review for a downgrade if there isn't progress on the debt ceiling by the middle of July.
Employment Report
U.S. employers added 18,000 workers in June, the fewest in nine months, and the unemployment rate unexpectedly climbed, Labor Department data showed today in Washington. The median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey called for a June gain of 105,000. The unemployment rate rose to 9.2 percent, the highest level this year.
This data "means that we are a ways off from getting to be where we should be," Buffett said. The kind of slump we had "doesn't turn around in a week, or a month or even a year. On the other hand, we are coming back," he said.
